Lowlight's Gambit
by jbeechem
Summary: Lowlight must fight his way through New York City with his sister and a number of GI Joes.


Lowlight rested his elbow on the cool concrete ledge of a 31st story window. His red goggles, equipped with night vision, allowed him to see through his binocular scope to the darkened cityscape below. The Liberty Building rose high above New York City, and Lowlight could see almost half of lower Manhattan from the dining room window from which he was looking.  
  
This was only his first mission since the old team was reinstated, but the rifle resting on Lowlight's shoulder made it feel like only a day had passed, instead of seven long years. FBI investigations could be entertaining in their own right, but now he could look forward to a challenge from COBRA.  
  
After an agony of waiting, the car Lowlight had been waiting for finally arrived. Its windows tinted, the black sedan was distinguished only by small COBRA sigils in the center of the tires' hubcaps. This was how three hours of waiting awarded the patient hunter.  
  
Lowlight's prey exited the car, and walked towards the door of a rather formal Japanese sushi bar. Tomax and Xamot were greeted at the door by a young Asian man who seemed to be in perfect physical condition.  
  
Near the trunk of the Sedan, two COBRA Vipers began unloading black metal cases. Lowlight could see by their movements they were very heavy. With his surveillance camera recording every moment of the transaction, Lowlight did not have to wait any longer.  
  
Tomax barely even heard the shot, but felt Xamot being pushed down by Takashi, leader of the Japanese mafia within New York City. The businessman was shot in the thigh and bleeding heavily when the two vipers began firing in the direction of the Liberty Building's 31st story with a pair of Soviet machine guns. A Crimson Guardsmen exited the Sedan and helped Tomax and Xamot into the front seats. He dropped what seemed to be a large amount of paper currency at Takashi's feet, and ordered the Vipers into the car. He then took the wheel, and the car sped away.  
  
Lowlight cursed under his breath. At least the transaction wouldn't be concluded. The weapons had already been unloaded, but no money had been given to either Tomax or Xamot. It was COBRA's loss, but Takashi's gain. At least, Takashi gained a small bit of weaponry. The pint of blood he lost was gathering on the sidewalk, as an ambulance pulled up in front of the sushi bar. It seemed a tele-viper nearby had contacted New York General and told the hospital about the shooting.  
  
With the surveillance equipment gathered in his backpack, Lowlight began walking towards the elevator. His rifle was slung over his shoulders, but he kept a pistol strapped to his chest at all times. His gloved fingers took the safety off, and pulled it from it's usual resting place.  
  
After the familiar elevator 'ding' Lowlight walked inside and pushed the button for the lobby. He remembered Beach Head had promised to drive the extraction vehicle, an un-marked jeep that would be parked outside. However, just as the door to the lobby opened, two vipers and a member of Takashi's crime syndicate pointed three pistols at his face. Shots rang out from behind the three gunmen...  
Takashi's thug and the viper on Lowlight's right we're pushed into the elevator by the momentum of the bullets entering their backs. The third viper turned around just in time for Lowlight to bring the butt of his pistol crashing into the back of his helmet. He fell to the ground with a deafening crash as his visor shattered into thousands of pieces.  
  
Beach Head stood before Lowlight, two pistols smoking in his hands.  
  
"Subtle," Lowlight said sarcastically.  
  
"I know it's not your style, but a ranger can't afford to be both silent and deadly," Beach Head replied.  
  
Lowlight smiled, and began walking towards the door with Beach Head. After exiting the building, Beach Head used a remote to start the jeep they planned to use for their extraction. However, instead of a roaring engine, all they heard was a loud explosion. Across the street, a column of smoke began to rise where Beach Head's jeep was once located. A tire fell at Lowlight's feet.  
  
Two Vipers sped by on a pair of motorcycles, shooting at the two Joes as they passed by. Lowlight ducked behind a garbage can, and Beachhead found cover from a mailbox. Beach Head fired two shots, and one struck the rear tire of the leading cycle. It spun out of control, and after smashing through an abandoned hot dog stand, slammed into a warehouse. The other viper continued into an intersection until a city bus collided with it, and dragged it for about three blocks.  
  
"I guess we're going to have to improvise," Beach Head said.  
  
After a few seconds of thought, Lowlight replied, "Quick, into the subway."  
  
"I know a safehouse we can go to. We'll wait there until we can contact Flint. He'll be able to provide another extraction for us. Until then, be inconspicuous. Try to blend in," Lowlight instructed.  
  
That was easier said than done. Because of his ski mask, Beach Head looked like he was either about to rob a convenient store or lost on his way to Aspen. Lowlight's goggles made him look like he belonged 20 years into the future. Anonymity wouldn't be easy.  
  
Beach Head pulled Lowlight into a restroom. "In here," he said in a gruff tone. The two split up and went into separate stalls. Beach Head pulled his mask off and stuffed it into the pocket of his vest. He hid his weapons in the cargo pockets of his fatigues. Lowlight, in the meantime, took off his goggles and put them in back pack. It took him a while to disassemble his rifle, but its pieces fit in his back pack as well. He took some red sunglasses he had hidden under his black snow cap, and put them on his eyes.  
  
The two Joes exited their respective stalls and looked at each other in the restroom mirror.  
  
"I guess this'll have to do," Lowlight said. "It's a big city. Nobody will give us a second glance."  
  
Beach Head gave Lowlight a very doubtful glare. The two headed out into the subway, and picked up some tokens. Lowlight led his friend into one of the trains, and the two started on their way.  
  
As Beach Head stared blindly out of the window, he saw an advertisement on another train for Extensive Enterprises. Tomax and Xamot stared back at him with huge smiles as the train sped away in the opposite direction. Beach Head sighed, and then looked out the other side of the train. Staring at him, in the flesh, were Tomax and Xamot riding in another train, this one going in the same direction. The two pulled pistols out of their coat pockets, and began to fire...  
  
Beach Head could hear Lowlight returning fire into the other train as he pulled his ski mask over his face. He hoped it would protect him from any shards of glass that fell from the broken window, and, he admitted to himself, he felt a bit naked without it during a combat situation.  
  
Lowlight, however, was completely comfortable firing his blazing pistol into the opposite train. When the twins ducked for cover, Lowlight did to, dropping his empty magazine on the floor and loading another. He went up again with Beach Head, but this time their three pistols fired on a group of vipers. Only one of the COBRAs was hit. The pair dropped to the floor once again.  
  
"They've missed their last two stops. Either the conductor's being held at gunpoint, or they've already killed him. We need to get off this train as quickly as possible, " Lowlight told his partner.  
  
"I don't suppose hijacking subway trains was part of your field training?"  
  
"No, but it's never too late to start," Beach Head replied. He began unraveling a 3-foot long grappling hook he had tied to his waist, and began twirling it in the air while in a crouching position. It was part of his climbing equipment, but Beach Head had brought it along as a hand-to-hand weapon. He knew he could use it to intimidate anyone who would try to pick a fight while he was waiting for Lowlight. Now with he and his partner in trouble, this was as good a time as any to use it.  
  
"You can't be serious," Lowlight said as he looked at him with a doubtful glare.  
  
Beach Head winked, and then jumped out of the window head first. The hook attached to the COBRAs' train's broken window, and Beach Head flew along at the same speed. He was parallel to the tracks, hanging in mid-air by the grappling hook's rope. Lowlight looked up in time to see a viper pull out a knife and approach the window. He shot him immediately.  
  
"I can't believe he actually made it," Lowlight said to himself as he fired three more rounds into the COBRAs' train to keep them under cover.  
  
Beach Head maneuvered himself into position, and then using his own momentum, swung himself into the window by pushing off the train with his feet. He caught the remaining viper in the jaw, and landed just in time to see Tomax and Xamot flee into the next car. He looked back at Lowlight and saw him preparing to jump. Lowlight did so and Beach Head grabbed him by his arms. Lowlight glanced down, but as he did, his partner pulled him into the train.  
  
"Good work," Beach Head said with a tone of thanks in his voice.  
  
"I don't think I should be the one who's congratulated," Lowlight replied.  
  
Beach Head helped his friend up and then looked towards the cars ahead of them.  
  
"The twins escaped. I think they've exited the train entirely," Beach Head told him.  
  
"It's just as well," Lowlight replied. "We need to stop here anyway."  
  
The train finally lurched to a halt at platform 42. The Joes exited, and began walking up the escalator towards the surface. The glare of the city's streetlights greeted them. They didn't bother to disguise themselves this time.  
  
Lowlight led Beach Head to a group of apartment buildings in Manhattan's lower East side. The pair walked up a group of steps and stood before door 3D.  
  
"Is this our contact?" Beach Head asked.  
  
"Indeed," Lowlight said.  
  
"Are we expected?"  
  
"Are we ever?"  
  
Beach Head gave him a look of resignation.  
  
"Anyway, anyone who knows me well knows to expect me in the middle of the night. Half of my friends probably think I'm a vampire."  
  
"Just half?" Beach Head asked sarcastically.  
  
Lowlight knocked on the door, and a few seconds later a young woman in a Reds sweatshirt and black sweatpants greeted them.  
  
"Cooper?" she asked.  
  
"Jesus Christ, is that glass in your cap?" the woman asked, as she started pulling shards from the train's window from above Lowlight's head.  
  
"Do you mind, Una?" he said as he went to Una's sink and started shaking his cap into it.  
  
Beach Head stared at the two, his face beginning to itch from the sweat gathering beneath his mask.  
  
"I wasn't exactly expecting Visitors, but I suppose I'll make an exception for you and your...most modest friend."  
  
Beach Head pulled the glove off his right hand, and introduced himself, "Wayne Sneeden ma'am."  
  
"Una McBride," she replied.  
  
"Do you mind if we use your comm equipment?" Lowlight asked.  
  
"Hold on, Lowlight, she's your sister? We can't involve civilians in this operation, and I don't think Flint will view a member of your family as an exception," Beach Head objected. "In fact--"  
  
"Contact," Lowlight interrupted.  
  
"What?" Beach Head asked confused.  
  
"I'm his contact in New York," she replied. "I helped him find a position with my friends at the bureau in '95, and with the team reinstated, I'm the Joe's East coast liaison."  
  
"I'd consider it nepotism, if she wasn't so good," Lowlight said and winked.  
  
"Tracking drug traffickers and pinning white-collar criminals may not be glamorous, but it sure beats modeling*" Una said as she rolled her eyes.  
  
Lowlight chuckled, "See, she's not a civilian. In fact she's supposed to still have some very high tech communications equipment still in her possession. You do, don't you Una?"  
  
"Come on, I'll give you the grand tour."  
  
Beach Head sighed and shook his head as he followed the two deeper into the apartment.  
  
A few magazines were scattered around. Clothes lay forgotten on the floor. Lowlight could smell Una's late night dinner of sesame chicken, fried rice, and Diet Coke. It rested on a TV table near a couch, which a black cat was using to climb near a potential feast.  
  
"Jinx, get away!" Una said with annoyance as she took the cat from her perch and placed her on the ground.  
  
"I swear, that damned cat's been nothing but bad luck ever since I got her. Scratches the furniture, sheds on my clothes..."  
  
Beach Head looked around the apartment, feeling a bit out of place. A pair of Una's underwear had fallen out of a basket of dirty clothes, and he averted his gaze, feeling a little embarrassed.  
  
"Una, I don't mean to rush you, but we're in a bit of a hurry," Lowlight said.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, keep your goggles on, red eyes," his younger sister teased.  
  
Lowlight sighed in annoyance. "I'm sorry, sis, am I rushing you? I guess next time Mom and Dad are in town, you can explain to them how you took too much time organizing an extraction for their son, and he and his buddy we're fed to the snakes."  
  
"Same old, Coop. Never any fun," Una said with a frown. "C'mon Wayne, let's walk into the Lion's Den."  
  
She grabbed Beach Head's arm and led him into a room with about 6 computer monitors, as many hard drives, and enough communications equipment to resemble Mainframe's office at base.  
  
Lowlight followed them in, and looked around.  
  
"Impressive," he said to his sister. "What can it do for us?"  
  
Una pointed to an emerald green 3D scale model of New York City, lit up on one of the monitors. She began clicking the mouse to rotate and manipulate the image. She zoomed in on Manhattan.  
  
"Mufasa here can show you where we are..." she clicked on a small building, and a red dot appeared, "...and where we need to go."  
  
Beach Head muttered under his breath, "Man, I just got done breaking in a couple keyboard jockeys. Now, I have to follow one through this stinkin' city."  
  
Lowlight looked at him and elbowed him in the ribs.  
  
"Duke contacted me as soon as the NYPD found out about the jeep. He had one of his agents in the department conducting surveillance on COBRA activity within the city. He's the reason we got the tip about Takashi. Anyway, the guy put two and two together, and let HQ know about what happened. Now Flint and Lady Jaye are waiting at the top of the Jacobi building with a couple of Dragon Flies. The heliport has already been made ready. All we have to do is walk a few blocks without being noticed, take an elevator up a few dozen stories, use a pair of my Bureau keys, and you two can be in the air without a care. That, and take out any cold blooded reptiles we meet a long the way."  
  
"Let's get this party started..." Lowlight replied.  
  
"I'm going to go into the other room to get dressed and armed. Make yourselves at home. I didn't know I was going to be a tour guide today, so that's why I'm in such casual attire. Play nice, boys."  
  
Beach Head and Lowlight stood in silence for a bit, studying the diagram of New York City. After a couple moments, Lowlight walked towards an open glass city window and looked outside. The view of a full moon was lost in a cobweb of lines where something had cracked the glass. For all of the technological equipment and modern armament in this apartment, this room and all its contents were just part of another forgotten urban dwelling.  
  
He turned towards Beach Head, who had his mask rolled to his forehead, and saw that his partner could barely contain himself.  
  
"What?" Lowlight asked, more than a little confused.  
  
"You...her," Beach Head said chuckling, "I just can't believe you come from the same family. I mean, you alphabetize your foot locker, and she decorates her apartment in leftover pizza boxes," he said, bursting out laughing.  
  
"We're different, so what?" Lowlight said, now grinning as well. "I know it. I'm sure your relatives don't bark orders like a DI to relax, like one of the Sneedens I know."  
  
"Come to think of it, that's the way most of my brother-in-laws would describe my mom!" Beach Head replied, and both soldiers started laughing.  
  
Una walked inside just as the laughter had subsided it.  
  
"Ready for the fun to start?" Una asked.  
  
Beach Head noticed how different she looked now; how professional she'd become since she stepped out of the computer room. She was wearing a navy blue cap with the letters "FBI" printed in yellow, with a navy blue jacket that contained the acronym as well. Black pants and tennis shoes finished the uniform.  
  
"Ready," the pair said simultaneously.  
  
*******  
  
Wind between gray, stone giants pierced through the clothes of the three as they walked Unassumingly through the streets of New York. It was a cold night, and Lowlight remembered the warmth of the subway below. Una was walking ahead, point essentially, since for all any of them knew, they were still in a warzone. Lowlight reassembled his rifle before they left, and now had it hanging from his back on a strap over his chest. His pistol was still in his right hand, and he scanned the streets far ahead of Una, waiting for an ambush. Beach Head walked behind them, guarding them from the rear with his own pair of guns.  
  
A garbage can made a loud, metallic noise from up ahead, and the trio froze. All three pointed their weapons in the direction of the noise. For an eternity, silence mocked them.  
  
A black cat emerged, and began inspecting the contents of her new bounty.  
  
"Jinx!" Una said, almost as a curse under her breath.  
  
Beach Head chuckled. Lowlight said nothing. Una continued walking, and the buildings grew taller and taller, reaching into the black infinity above. When they had walked a few more blocks, they finally reached the Jacobi building.  
  
With weapons drawn, Una showed her badge to a doorman. He allowed her to enter. Inside the lobby, everything seemed still. There was a security desk, a set of elevators, and a pair of hallways that formed a T with the lobby at the far end of the room. A few pieces of furniture, some plants, and a large bronze sculpture of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island punctuated the scene accordingly.  
  
Just as the three began approaching the elevators, Una could hear the pulse of a rhythmic military march from the hallways at the far end. They were getting louder.  
  
"Find cover, quick!" She said.  
  
Her brother accompanied her behind the statue of Ms. Liberty. Beach Head was crouched behind a large mahogany bench.  
  
Two familiar voices greeted them.  
  
"It seems we still..."  
  
"Have some business two conclude."  
  
Two figures emerged from the shadows. Lowlight's heart sank as he saw Tomax and Xamot, now in their blue and red field uniforms.  
  
Beach Head peered over the bench, and saw a trio of Alley Vipers with shields and guns walk past the pair.  
  
"You may fire...  
  
"When ready"  
  
Splinters flew into Beach Head's face as bullets pounded the bench he had found cover behind. The Alley Vipers slowly advanced as Lowlight, Beach Head and Una, fired on them. The bullets bounced harmlessly off their shields.  
  
"We have to do something fast!" Lowlight told his sister, as he unloaded the emptied clip of his pistol and prepared to put another one in.  
  
Una looked at him and nodded. She took a flash bang from a clip she had tied to her belt, pulled it's pin, and tossed it over the bronze sculpture she and her brother were hidden behind. After a few seconds, the three heard a loud explosion followed by a blinding flash.  
  
"NOW!" Una screamed.  
  
Lowlight, Beach Head and Una charged the Alley Vipers. Lowlight put his shoulder down and crashed into the nearest one knocking them both to the floor. Beach Head performed a sweep kick on the one in the center, and Una simply put two bullets into the knees of the third. After getting on his feet, Lowlight saw that the Crimson Twins had escaped once again. He pounded the "up" button on the elevator and heard a slight "ding" as the center door opened.  
  
The three entered the elevator, and it began to rise quickly as they hit the button to the top floor.  
  
*******  
  
"Hurry, we don't have much time!" Flint shouted. The roar of the Dragonflies' propeller blades created a loud drone as Lowlight and Una climbed in the craft Flint was piloting, and Beach Head accompanied Lady Jaye.  
  
The two helicopters rose from the Jacobi Building's heliport as the three Alley Vipers, now recovered, watched as the Joes escaped.  
  
"Crimson Leader, this is Sidewinder Alpha. We have a confirmed visual of two enemy helicopters. They are heading towards your position."  
  
"Copy Sidewinder Alpha, Crimson Leader out," Tomax replied. "Ready, brother?"  
  
"Ready," Xamot replied.  
  
*******  
  
Lady Jaye knew something wasn't right. She could feel it.  
  
"How are my two co-pilots?" She asked, trying to keep the nagging worry out of her mind.  
  
"We're a little cramped," Lowlight replied, "but besides that we're ok."  
  
"Lady Jaye, bogies at 12!" Flint called over the radio.  
  
Two trouble-bubbles descended from the sky above, and Lady Jaye and Flint scattered.  
  
"Hold on Beach Head!" Flint said to his partner in the rear of the cockpit.  
  
"It doesn't look like I have much of a choice," Beach Head replied.  
  
The two Dragonflies made a sharp turn, and then began heading towards each other. The trouble bubbles followed each of them.  
  
"Now!" Lady Jaye said into the radio. Lady Jaye climbed sharply and Flint dove towards the skyscrapers beneath him. Tomax and Xamot's eyes grew in terror, and they both ejected just before their flight pods collided with each other.  
  
"Two for the price of one, Lady Jaye," Flint said into the radio.  
  
"Not bad at all," Lady Jaye replied with a smile.  
  
*******  
  
Aboard the USS Flagg, 10 miles outside of New York harbor in the chilly waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Lowlight looked up into the full moon.  
  
"Not bad for a night's work," Una said to her brother.  
  
"No, not at all," Lowlight said with a rare smile. 


End file.
